Wish I had a local comic shop...

Some of the comic blog talk today has to do with comic shops--specifically, going into comic shops if you're a woman. Apparently it's not always a positive thing, having a local comic shop. (See here and here.)

Now, I remember when we had a local comic shop, fifteen or twenty years ago. (These days the nearest is 100 miles away.) First in some guy's basement, and eventually in a store near the university--the kiss of death, I assume, having to pay shopfront rent, because it didn't last long there, and he sadly didn't reopen at home (we're mostly a rural area here, and specialty shops rarely survive). I went there a number of times and was never treated impolitely, never talked down to, never pointed toward the "girl books" (granted that that may have been an unknown concept at that time), always greeted in a friendly manner, always allowed to browse in peace*, always answered helpfully and courteously when I did have a question, never challenged or given the evil eye about my purchases--in other words, treated like someone they actually wanted to come back someday to spend more money!

But I hear so often about people being treated poorly in comic shops, and not just women (who are apparently encroaching on male territory just by being comic fans in some areas). I have to wonder why some of these shop owners bothered to open a shop in the first place--if all they really wanted was a members-only club for talking comics, there are far easier and cheaper ways to go about that. Treating the customers (even only select customers) like crap is not the route to business success. I can see how a shop like this might do well if they're the only game in town (although not necessarily, online shopping makes it easy to get away from bad local entrepreneurs), but if there's any competition at all, you have to wonder. Generally speaking I'm all for supporting local business, but I'm no masochist and if I'm treated poorly I'll go somewhere else. I've worked retail, and I know what I think about "the customer is always right" (ha!), but I also know how little effort it takes to be polite under most circumstances, and there's really no excuse for treating a business like an exclusive club where you half-expect to see a bouncer.


* Which might have been counted a bad point by some who prefer a more hands-on treatment by sales clerks--personally when I am shopping I generally know what I want, and I want them to leave me alone unless I actually ask for help. I'm talking to you, J.C. Penney clerk who pounced on me two seconds after I walked through the door!